Our move to Maui-info for those who are planning to move (Kihei: car rental, gynecologist)

[JuliaHuff]

So we moved to Maui, two weeks ago. My husband is a doctor for Maui Medical.
What can i say? i love the island-it is very beautiful and relaxing. People are nice too. i like our house too.
The problems we had so far-it is EXTREMELY expensive. and this is coming from a person who moved from Manhattan. Groceries are twice the price of Manhattan in Costo, everywhere else it is even more expensive. All other items are ridiculously expensive as well-Pregnancy test-$26 in Safeway, Kotex every day pads-$10, etc. so everything is 3-4 times more expensive then in Manhattan, not only food. We can see that the local are really struggling and hear that many people are going back to mainland, or Japan. My advice to you-if you have a family, children, dont come here, you will be constantly broke. Even with my husband's salary we have to really watch our expenses and be very careful with groceries.
We used to shop online and save a lot of money by ordering things from the internet, we can lo longer do it-shipping is too expensive, we have to buy locally and spend much more money.
Grocery selection-Safeway and Foodland are extremely expensive, so everything thats left is Costco or Cash and carry. Be ready to pay $7 for a small jar of peanut butter. Not everything can be bought at COSCO, you can buy a 20LB bag of mustard or sugar-and for smaller items you have no choice but pay much more then on the mainland.
Cars are also much more expensive-we bought the chepaest one we could find for $16K, it is 10K on the mainland. Selection of used cars is very small, and they are not much cheaper then the new ones. We checked Oahu-not much cheaper then Maui.

Another big problem-no medical care, and i mean it, NO MEDICAL care.
When i came here, i found out i was pregnant, i had to be closely monitored because i was high risk after in vitro, and had to control my hormone levels. The hospital in Maui took a week to do basic tests that take 30 mintes on the mainland, because everything is sent out. After the test was done-it turned out my hormnes were too low and i had to have immediate injections-when we called the pharmacy, the did not have the medication, niether did Oahu, they had to order on the mainland. as a result-I miscarried. This move to Maui cost me my baby. Was it worth for a change of scenery? i dont think so. If you need any kind of medical help-think twice before moving here. the hospital is awful, they dont have anything, and pharmacy does not have even basic meds, so for any kind of emergency-you are pretty much screwed. They suggested we fly to oahu every day for blood tests-it is $150 round trip plus car rental. Do the math, if you have to go every other day-it is impossible financially.

I knew we were in trouble when the pet quarantene issue came up, and boy i was right-everything here takes long time, and unfortunately not only for pets, for humans as well.
As for the local culture-I am sorry, but what do you call culture? i dont see much culture so far. Saw people with no shoes and unbrushed hair, people with no teeth. So many gangsta-looking teenagers on the street.
I saw a sign on a car-Chicken Fighting is not a crime, respect local culture. Is this what you call a culture? Chicken fighting?
I understand why local Hawaiians are mad at white people now-White people live in Kihei in big and nice houses, they have a lot of money, and locals are really struggling. I would be mad too. Like one local said-soon there will be no people to clean rich people's pools, because all the locals are going to the mainland in order to survive.
Lastly, we met a white family that was going back to the mainland, they have a beautiful 6 year old daughter. She got beat up on the playground by three hawain girls.

[JuliaHuff]

FYI-I wrote this not to criticize Hawaii or Maui or hear objections from the locals
I wrote this info for the people who are planning a possible move to Hawaii.
Think twice, research, if you are white with not too much money and children-think very carefully.

[maui08]

All I can say, is I tried to warn you. That is exactly the same things I wrote on your thread months ago. Good luck over here! It's definetely a struggle

[JuliaHuff]

maui08-i kind of had no choice. my husband signed a two year contract with the hospital, signed a lease and paid a lot of money for hawaian licenses. it was too late to change. He got here a month ago, without me, and told me that everything was great, so i came.
I love it here, quality of life if higher then in NY-i love the ocean, weather, quiet life. but i was not prepared for complete lack of medical care-i mean we are talking about basic things here-monitoring pregnancy, it is not an open heart surgery. i could not even get a pregnancy sonogram. they refused to look at me, the head gynecologist refused to treat me. and my husband works there, he escalated it to the highest level-the still refused. he even threatened quitting his job. it did not help.
they told me i had to fly to Oahu, and Oahu doctor had a one month wait, plus who can afford to fly to oahu every other day for 9 months? even every week? you cant be pregnant and have your ob/gyn on another island-it is extremely expensive

another thing that suprised me-Bank of Hawaii has no online banking, cannot do wire transfer or anything else online, have to go to the branch, which is strange

[MadRussian]

Why gynecologist refuses to treat you? What is his reasoning?
I just never heard such thing.

[alohakat]

I'm sorry you lost your little one.

[maui08]

We too love the ocean but after years of it....it's simply not worth the trade offs any longer. -This is just our opinion. Some folks move here and lower their quality of life and have a great life while others hold on to their high standard of living and struggle and leave. That is the way of the islands.

-Some give up their steak dinners for top ramen noodles and trade in their cars for mopeds in order to live here. For us being from San Diego we are not that willing to give up the things we enjoy and hence the reasons why we struggle here financially. Not to mention the poor medical care and education system. -I would not have any type of surgery done here on Maui and that is scary. If an emergency happens we are all basically screwed here.

So, quality of life is different for everyone. We are trying to get back to the main land desperately. Simply tired of crossing our fingers and hoping our check does not bounce each time we visit the grocery store or mail off a bill. Living check to check gets old really quick especially when we're making 100K as a household.

[Calico Salsa]

Not sure what you mean about BOH not having online banking, they do and you can see the login on their website. Wire transfers are a different matter. 4 years ago when I moved here I was surprised to find that banking in general had changed - not Hawaii, but how certain transactions are handled. Wells Fargo couldn't transfer funds here, they required me to be there in person in California to sign the forms. You can thank 9/11 for that, not Hawaii.

Also not sure about your medical situation, and just so sorry to hear of your loss. I have Kaiser, and have had pretty good care so far. True, some operations and care are not available on Maui. This is like living in a very rural area on the mainland, where you would need to travel to a larger hospital for some care. It's just that here there's an ocean in between the larger city centers, so it's a very inconvenient trip to make. I would not recommend Maui to someone who needs a lot of specialized care. You obviously needed more than was available immediately to you, and that is so unfortunate.

Julia, this is going to be a big shock for anyone moving from Manhattan, and your previous posts indicated it wasn't your choice or decision. I hope that in time you will find enough of an adjustment to have some more happy times. If not, then it's only 2 years before you get to go back.

Your comments on culture only reflect your own taste, which is fine. Shoeless and unbrushed hair might be pretty big indicators of something negative to you, but perhaps not to those who don't have it a priorty to spend a lot of money on what others might think of them. You'll find dress is much more casual on Maui than even California, I can imagine that it is many, many levels different from Manhattan - and I only have Sex And The City to judge that by!

As a woman out alone grocery shopping after dark, I've never had a problem with "gangsta-looking teenagers" here on Maui, whereas in larger cities you have to constantly watch your back. Last night I was out with 4 other ladies, 3 of them visitors, having a bowl of noodles, sitting outside enjoying the warm air. A table full of young men asked if we would take their picture. Turns out they lived on Maui, but were getting together for some fun. They asked where our visitors were from and thanked us for taking the pictures. Our visitor friend from Atlanta commented that it would NEVER happen where she lived - that people just didn't talk with others who were strangers, let alone ask for a favor or smile/laugh/visit. She saw that that same 'gang' of young men would have signaled danger in her city, but here it just wasn't so.

Hang in there Julia!

[Jungjohann]

I just gotta ask, precisely what do you do with a twenty pound bag of mustard?? Oh, and a small jar of peanut butter is about $3.50, you must be getting the really expensive imported French stuff...........
And many people are going back to Japan, Japanese tourists have a tendency to do that.............................................. .......

Aloha, and ho'omanawanui, patience

[Ellwood]

We spend time in Maui every year, but for many of the reasons you stated: medical care and high costs for food and necessities, we decided we couldn't afford to retire there. Additionally distance from family and we tend to get island fever after two months.
We love the islands and have met some wonderful locals. We feel their culture is interesting and unique, but not sure why it is an issue.
People from the mainland are building expensive homes that they live in a few weeks out of the year, which is causing the property taxes to increase for the locals. Most locals have at least two jobs to just survive.
We have thought for several years that the locals are headed to the mainland where they can afford to purchase a house, go on vacation, have a nice car, good education for their children, and have more career opportunities than tourism and landscaping.
With the increase in fuel, most likely costs will continue to rise along with airfares, which will reduce visitors to the island. It is a sad situation.
It is paradise to live in Maui, but unfortunately the paradise tax is outrageous.